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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ask most Americans to find Lesotho on a map, and you probably should not expect a quick response.

But for Kentucky men’s soccer midfielder Napo Matsoso, the tiny land-locked country surrounded by South Africa is where his dream of playing professional soccer began.

“One of my biggest goals is to become a professional soccer player, because my dad was a professional soccer player,” Matsoso said. “So, pretty much, I want to follow his footsteps.”

Matsoso’s father, Thato, played for Lesotho’s national team, and Napo grew up around his father’s teams. For Matsoso to follow his father’s footsteps and play soccer at the professional level he needed to take a different path, one that would bring him to Louisville.

Enter Thabane Sutu, a coach with Louisville club soccer team United 1996 FC and former teammate of Thato Matsoso. Sutu learned there were several youth players in Lesotho interested in coming to the United States to further their careers.

The United 1996 staff approached Louisville car dealer Marc Maguire and his family, which included two sons currently playing for the club, about hosting the players from Lesotho. The Maguires agreed and welcomed two teenagers, Lepe Seetane and Sunny Jane, to their family. What originally was planned as a one-year trip turned into a permanent arrangement as the Maguires adopted Seetane and Jane.

“We ended up falling in love with them, so we adopted them and they’re doing well,” Maguire said. “Then a few years later the club had expressed an interest in us doing it again, and we decided that we wanted to do it again.”

This time the Maguires welcomed two more teenagers from Lesotho to the family, including Matsoso.

For Matsoso the chance to come to the United States was an opportunity to further his career he could not pass up, even if it meant leaving his parents at home.

“My parents were happy for me to come here because we have way better options than back home, a lot of schools, a lot of clubs to play for.” Matsoso said. “It was just a better environment for me to come here.”

Matsoso talks to his parents most weeks but has not returned to Lesotho since coming to the United States as a 15-year-old in August of 2009.

The move brought more drastic changes as well.

“It was way different,” Matsoso said. “There were a lot of buildings, big buildings. I had to get used to new people, meet new people. In Lesotho, it was all about just going to play soccer. Like we went to school and stuff, but it wasn’t like we had to go to school.”

Having Seetane and Jane to lean on was a boost for Matsoso’s early struggles to master the language and adapt to a new culture, but the transition was not as easy for Matsoso as it had been for his new brothers. Matsoso tended to keep to himself even within the Maguire household.

Matsoso faced adjustments on the field as well. Playing alongside teenagers who often lacked his experience and skill level, Matsoso had to learn patience and how to better accept coaching. His talent on the field was immediately evident as he scored 29 goals and totaled 19 assists as a freshman at St. Francis High School in Louisville.

Sometime near the end of Matsoso’s junior year of high school, something clicked for the talented playmaker who was already attracting the interest of college recruiters.

“I think at that point it was just a switch went off in his head and he realized that he was not going to just be able to coast through,” Maguire said. “Once he turned around, his work ethic has been second to none. His discipline, his diet, everything has been just phenomenal. He has a very, very clear understanding of what, I think, it takes to be hopefully a professional soccer player one day.”

When Johan Cedergren was hired as Kentucky’s men’s soccer coach in December of 2011, one of his first recruiting trips was to watch Matsoso play.

At 5-foot-6, Matsoso was hardly an imposing physical presence on the field, but Cedergren quickly learned he was the type of prospect a rebuilding Kentucky program could use.

“It’s just like he’s got one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen,” Cedergren said. “He will not get pushed off the ball, he will not get out-worked. Then, on top of that, he’s one of the best players in terms of technical ability and passing and scoring goals.”

Cedergren’s pitch paid off as Matsoso decided Kentucky was the right fit for him, but upon arriving in Lexington, Matsoso quickly learned he faced another adjustment.

Kentucky had earned its first NCAA tournament berth since 2003 during Cedergren’s first season as head coach in 2012, but the rebuilding project began in earnest when Matsoso and his classmates arrived on campus in 2013.

Eight freshmen started multiple games for the Wildcats in 2013 with Matsoso being one of just two players to start every game for the team, which struggled to a 7-9-3 record. Matsoso finished his debut season with one goal and five assists.

Unsurprisingly, Matsoso struggled at times to deal with the failures on the field.

Buy Photo

University of Kentucky Wildcats midfielder Napo Matsoso looks for a path toward the goal as University of Louisville Cardinals forward Tate Schmitt pressures him.
06 Sept 2015(Photo: David R. Lutman/Special to The CJ)

“I could see how with the way Napo’s attitude was kind of back and forth his freshman year, I could see where coaches could have turned their back on him,” Maguire said. “Johan has done the opposite. I think he’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to Napo.”

For Cedergren, Matsoso’s work ethic made it easy to stick with his budding star.

“I’m one of those guys where I’m extremely demanding and I will help you as long as you help me and the team,” Cedergren said. “If you don’t give 100 percent, well then I’m not sure that I’ve got time for you.

“The thing with Napo was every day in practice he’s one of the hardest workers. So, for me, it’s easy then to call him into the office and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on? You seem a little down. Are you homesick? Is there anything I can help you with?’”

Cedergren, who moved to the United States from Sweden before playing college soccer at Cincinnati, forged a bond with Matsoso. Under Cedergren's leadership, Matsoso bloomed.

Given more leeway on the field as a sophomore, Matsoso earned first-team All-Conference USA honors after netting five goals and four assists as Kentucky returned to the NCAA tournament.

As a junior in 2015, Matsoso repeated his first-team All-Conference USA accolade with four goals and six assists. Kentucky won its first Conference USA men’s soccer regular-season title and returned to the NCAA tournament.

“I think I’ve grown a lot,” Matsoso said. “The coaches have helped really. Johan is a really good coach, and he’s always open to talk about anything we do in practice or after games if we have any issues.”

There’s still work to do for Matsoso at Kentucky. He was unable to play in either of Kentucky’s NCAA tournament games during his career – due to a yellow card accumulation as a sophomore and an injury as a junior – but his professional dreams are close to coming true.

TopDrawerSoccer.com ranked Matsoso as the No. 13 college player in the country in 2015. Matsoso’s growing resume could position him as a Major League Soccer draft prospect or as a candidate for a professional contract at a foreign club.

College success is no guarantee of an easy path to the professional ranks. Matsoso's former teammate UK goalkeeper Callum Irving was not selected in this week's four-round MLS SuperDraft despite being named a first-team All-American and earning Conference USA Player of the Year honors in two consecutive seasons.

Still, Cedergren is confident Matsoso can thrive as a professional.

“I think what’s going to be really important, as we go through that search process next year of finding the right fit in terms of agents and clubs, is that he goes somewhere where they really value him and understand that you’re going to have to kind of build a team around him to get the best out of Napo,” Cedergren said.

With his professional dreams seemingly on the verge of coming true, Matsoso decision to come to the United States has been validated.

He’s thankful for the opportunity provided him by his Louisville family, and he hopes to make his first trip back to Lesotho this summer.

There he will be able to reunite with the father who sparked those professional dreams.

“That’s the person who started me and got me into soccer, but when I tell him now how I’m doing he’s proud,” Matsoso said. “He’s knows that there’s good competition here, and I have coaches that care about the team and care about helping me develop.”

Then it will be time for Matsoso to forge a new dream.

“I think we’re very, very fortunate to have him here, and we’re looking forward to having him for one more year and then, of course, continuing to follow his career when he’s done playing with us,” Cedergren said. “I think he’ll be playing for a long, long time still.”